Helping schoolchildren to help themselves

World Health • 49th Year, No. 4, July-August 1996 21 Helping schoolchildren to help themselves Chantas Penthisarn Poor health always makes learn-ing more difficult. Health promotion, as part of general education, may be the best approach to solving this problem. Health- related knowledge and skill will not only improve the well-being of schoolchildren but help them to help themselves, their friends, their family and their community. Bangbua school in Bangkok, Thailand, selected some 40 fifth- grade boys and girls to take part in a training course called the Health- Promoting Leaders project. A cur- riculum proposed by the School Health Division is used to equip the participants with ade- quate knowledge to undertake a number of health activities. Each time, we record the treatment on individual files, and our health leaders play a major part in coordi- nating and collecting the data. A mobile medical unit comes to the school every year to provide diagnosis and treatment for the children and people living near the school. School-age children often have toothache, while others may be infested with lice. All children must participate in the tooth-brushing project: after brushing they must keep a fluoride liquid in their mouths for a few minutes. Those with lice Since most of our children come from poor families, they eat poor food, so their weight and height are below the standard. To help solve this problem, we set up a school lunch and growth-monitoring project. We measure the weight and height of all the children once a semester, and the results tell us that our chil- dren's nutritional status is gradually improving. Student leaders help to prepare immunization iniections Immunization is an important activity, and our school- children receive it at the beginning of the academic year. Once we have reviewed their previous immuniza- tion records and received permission from their parents, we ask the nearby public health centre to immunize them against poliomyelitis, measles and the other target diseases. If an epidemic occurs, we immediately ask for vaccination from the same centre. have to have treatment on three successive occasions. The health leaders take a major part in prepar- ing these activities. The school information service distributes general information and news about events such as wide- spread epidemics and the ways to prevent and treat infection. Every Thursday morning, the news is broadcast by the health-promoting leaders who take turns to do this and to distribute health documents. Since Bangbua school has 2130 children, 102 teachers and eight other workers and janitors, with more than 60 classrooms, environ- mental sanitation and food hygiene are high priorities. All members of the school must support these activi- ties, and our little health leaders regularly inspect the drainage, garbage disposal and other facilities, then report to their teachers who will try to solve any problems they have discovered. A timetable in the school nurse's room ensures that the health leaders take it in turns to come and work every morning and noon. They help each other to clean the room, prepare beds for patients and maintain the first aid equipment. When patients arrive in need of help, they take care of them, offering them first aid under the supervi- sion of the nurse teacher. Through these activi- ties we see the health- promoting leaders taking care of their school friends like brothers and sisters. Visitors may sense this lovely atmosphere at Bangbua school, especially in the nurse teacher's room, and we know that we are instilling both knowledge and responsibility in our children's minds. • Mr Chan las Penthisarn is a teacher at Bangbua Elementary School, 8 M 4 Paholyothin Rood, Chatuchak, Bangkok 10900, Thailand.